I realize I might be getting a bit carried away with this whole capsule thing, but now that my capsule feels buckled down, I wanted to take a look at Stevie’s clothes.  His drawers have been organized time and time again, but there’s only so much you can do with that much stuff.  It accumulates so quickly!

Most of Stevie’s clothes are hand-me-downs from my sister. And then we fill in with a few purchased items. And then he gets clothes as gifts for every occasion. And then the trouble starts when each week I do laundry and put the clean, folded clothes on top of all the other clothes.  He ends up wearing those same top items again and again, week after week.  All the clothes on the bottom get lost in the shuffle and then when I’m in a rush and can’t find a pair of shorts, I’m convinced he doesn’t have enough – and end up buying more.

Vicious cycle.

So I wanted to tidy things up.

Essentially a capsule wardrobe for kids is pretty easy to create only because they grow so stinkin’ fast, their clothes are always changing.  And a capsule wardrobe for kids in Southern California is even easier to create because we have pretty steady weather year round.  So I’m looking at Stevie’s wardrobe as his one year wardrobe.  When he moves into the next size of clothes, I’ll start his next year-long capsule.

Now, if Stevie had any opinion on his clothes, this is the part where I’d have him pick his favorites.  But since he doesn’t, I get to choose for him.  And here’s what I came up with:

SHOES
1 sneakers / 1 sandals / 1 boots

TOPS
2 tanks / 10 short sleeve / 10 long sleeve

BOTTOMS
3 cargo shorts / 3 straight shorts / 2 jeans / 2 cargo pants / 2 sweats / 1 warm lined pants

SWEATERS & JACKETS
1 light jacket / 1 warm jacket / 1 snow jacket / 3 hoodies / 2 fleece pullovers

SPECIAL OCCASION
1 white button down / 1 polo / 1 vest or cardigan / 1 slacks / 1 swim suit

Now, I know I have a unique circumstance with Stevie seeing that he won’t wear certain shoes or shirts, so we take the easy route and stick with t-shirts.  And I have so many of those because they are always dirty. ALWAYS.  I need enough to get me through the week, with the option to change,  if need be.  So… at 51 pieces, Stevie officially has more clothes in his capsule than I do!  Haha.  But I figure this will take him through an entire year – or as long as he is this size. I am realistic that things will wear out, stain, or tear, (hello shoes every 3 months!) but I’ll only replace those items as needed.

Obviously its up to you if you purchase seasonally or all at once.  In CA the weather goes from hot to cold constantly, sometimes in the same day, so I need all types of items on hand. Things like boots should be purchased if and when you need them, so they fit properly.  With coats, I generally like to go up a size or two (roll the sleeves), so it fits longer than one winter season.  And I imagine if you live in a cooler climate, this would be pretty easy to modify by adding layering pieces like tights and thermals.

And just like with a grown-up capsule, I think it’s less about how many items you end up with, and more about being mindful of what you have and what you will use. 

So there ya go. Test running it. Has anyone else  tried a capsule for their kids?